Talk:Victor Nikiforov/@comment-79.46.203.128-20171228161911/@comment-1248963-20180105095944
You need to understand that gender identity and presentation is conceived very differently in Japan. You said it yourself, non-binary gender identities are hardly acknowledged in US and European media -in fact, I can't name any nb character from any current series/movie/franchise I'm aware of, I assume there are some in Steven Universe?. We barely get any transgender characters at all and a significant majority of general populace aren't even aware that there are ''any nb- gender identities. And American society is way more progressive and aware about gender than Japan is. Even if statistics show there are quite a large number of LGBT+ people in Japan, their political and cultural presence is very small compared to European and American countries. What I'm trying to say is that I think believing that one (1) instance of Victor acknowledging his androgynous appearance is indicative of Sayo Yamamoto being specifically aware of nb gender identities is grasping at straws. Yamamoto has always worked with controversial themes and stories -about gender, feminism, eroticism etc- . And she is unapologetic and straightforward about it. People may say YOI is "ambiguous" about the homosexuality, and it is evident she faced backlash and barriers when trying to create this story and get it through the cultural censorship, but all in all, she told her story and made it evident by all means that she was writing story about two men in love. And if the story wasn't enough, Victor's appearance was explicitly inspired by at least three openly gay men (John Cameron Mitchell, Johnny Weir, Jeffrey Buttle). It is a gay show and has been recognized as such by a lot of people, from Sayo Yamamoto's friends to international media. You say the show "really pushes" a possible nb interpretation, but seriously, this issue is brought up ''once ''in the entire series.If Sayo had conceived Victor as non-binary in any capacity, she would've been way more explicit about it than one (1) mention of Victor wearing one (1) androgynous costume (Again androgyny =! non-binary). The world of YOI is a world with no discrimination, if Victor's gender indetity was meant to be anything but cis male, he would've had no reason to not present himself as such. Sayokan has also unapologetically spoken about how she wanted to focus on beautiful male bodies, male eroticism etc etc, nothing she has ever said has been coy or ambiguous in a way that could implicitly point at something different regarding any character's gender. We can't just go around claiming "his gender identity is not made explicit in canon so we can't assume he's cis male" when there is nothing that really points otherwise, or we'd have to delete everyone's gender because no one says their gender explicitly. The designer of the skating costumes explained that Georgi's FS costume is supposed to represent both the prince and princess in the song's story, his situation is exactly the same as Victor's, would you claim the show was "pushing" a NB interpretation for his gender? Heck, a stronger case could be made about Yuuri's gender since he specifically chooses an androgynous costume and embodies a woman -even taking on female pronouns- for his first Eros skate. Yuri on Ice challenged the dated institution of figure skating which is infamous for its conservative outlook on gender by allowing its male characters to play beyond rigidly masculine presentations ''in their performances, but going from that to claiming the show is "pushing" a nb interpretation of their gender identities and thus we can't state with certainty that their canonical gender is anything other than cis male is too huge a leap.